It is contended by the applicant that there is a great need for an improved accessory door lock apparatus which is portable so as to be easily carried by a person while traveling and which further provides the user with increased security and privacy while staying in their room behind a locked door at a motel, hotel, or the like. Although such establishments often provide interior security devices, such as dead bolts, chains, etc., which may be secured from within the room by a patron, it is also well known that some persons, such as hotel employees, have master keys which are capable of overriding the interior security devices. It is also true that criminals and other unscrupulous persons can obtain or create such override devices. Consequently, the traveller can never completely rely on the security devices provided by the hotel, motel, or the like.
In the past, numerous devices have been proposed heretofore for ensuring the ability of a person to securely lock the doors of hotels, motels, etc. However, many of the prior art devices have been much to expensive to manufacture and purchase and most have been much to complex to install and remove. Also, other prior art devices require the device to be permanently installed and, hence, have not been capable of being removed by a traveler and transported from one room to the next.
The following references are exemplary of such prior art devices. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,245, 5,325,685, 4,471,981 and 3,671,067, each of which provide a portable door lock device, however, in each reference the user must partially install the device while the door is open and then secure the installation after the door is closed and this can be very time consuming and most frustrating when one is tired and when one only wishes to close the door.
Still other prior art devices have been taught, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,297,829, 3,854,764 and 3,161,428, all of which may be installed after the door has been closed, however, each include many parts, are costly to manufacture and purchase, are complicated to use and none of the prior art references are adjustable so as to be attachable to various sized doors having various sized locks, such as taught by the present invention.